Sin is – and always has been – a major topic in Christian theology. In fact, sin is the reason why Jesus had to come and give His life. Sin is what nailed Him to the cross. And sin is what consigns a person to an eternity of punishment, unless he turns to Christ to be saved.
Sin plays a central role in the lives of human beings.
Every human being is touched by sin, and the entire world – all of the seas, landmasses, trees, animals, and plants – lives on in an imperfect and fallen state brought about by the sin of Adam and Eve. Sin forms a motif, a repeating theme, which weaves its dark and calamitous music throughout the threads of time. It is present everywhere you look. Read the pages of history, and you’re reading an account which involves sin. Look at the headlines on the newspaper, and you can bet that sin is involved somehow.
So far as we are concerned, sin is an inevitable part of the world, though it is vitally important to remember that followers of Christ are set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). Sin permeates the world, but Christ is able to overcome sin, and He delivers those who follow Him from sin. That doesn’t mean that Christ followers can attain sinless perfection in this life, but it does mean that Christ fundamentally transforms the relationship of His followers with their sin.
But this reading isn’t intended to fully explore the role of sin in a Christian’s life – though maybe I’ll write a post on that sometime in the future. Instead, I just want to offer a simple observation on sin.
What is Sin, Really?
Sin gets talked about often. But what is it?
The most straightforward definition of sin would be this: sin is anything that displeases or disobeys God. To put it Biblically, we can say that sin is anything that does not originate from faith in God (Romans 14:23). Sin is also a ‘falling short’ of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
So sin can be anything. It doesn’t have to be the act of stealing, intentionally hurting someone, lying, or cheating. Sin can be simply wanting things your way. It can be laziness, gossip, or any other form of selfishness. It can be a casual disregarding of an important task. Even decisions that look ‘Godly’ on the surface – if not made in faith – can be sin.
Sin is what happens when we don’t measure up to God’s standard.
Perhaps this is why, in Isaiah 64:6, it is written “…all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Even so-called “righteous” acts – giving money, giving up your time, or helping others – are polluted if they do not come from a place of faith in the Lord. Does this mean that these are bad things? No. But it does mean that, unless coming from faith, these things too are ‘polluted garments’ – or, in other words, still sin.
Indeed, sin doesn’t have to ‘look like’ sin. It can be anywhere and everywhere. It can take virtually any form. Once again, sin is a ‘falling short’ of God’s glory. And we fall short – yes, even Christians – of this lofty goal all the time.
But if we peel back the layers a bit further, I think we can make another observation about sin.
In addition to being a failure to measure up to God’s standards, sin is also often a twisting – a deviation, or perversion, if you will – of what God has declared good.
Think about it.
What is the most famous sin in the Bible? While this is a rather subjective question, I think that infamous title may well go to the sin that started it all: the sin of Adam and Eve.
Sin: a Twisting of What is Good
In addition to being a failure to measure up to God’s standards, sin is also often a twisting – a deviation, or perversion, if you will – of what God has declared good.
In Genesis 2, God laid boundaries. He said (speaking to Adam), “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17, ESV)”
In other words, God told Adam that he could have anything he wanted from the garden, but he could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why? Because eating from that tree would certainly result in Adam’s death. Clearly, God deemed the act of eating from trees in the garden to be a good thing – after all, He permitted it. But God set a boundary and said, “It is NOT good that you would eat from this one particular tree.”
God was implicitly declaring that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a twisting of a good thing. It was a falling short of His design and His standard. And for Adam to fall short of this design would be to bring death upon himself.
Now, as we all know, Adam and Even wouldn’t stay sin-free for very long.
In Genesis 3, the serpent (whom most scholars agree to be Satan) deceived Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Listen to the serpent’s words:
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6, ESV)
Note: the serpent’s (Satan’s) lines are bolded for emphasis and ease of reading.
Not only was this the first sin, but it was also the first temptation. Something deep within Eve (and Adam, for that matter) wanted to eat of the forbidden tree. God declared something off-limits, and when Satan showed up, the first thing he did was speak to this dark desire within Adam and Eve’s hearts. There was a desire to disobey God, and to turn a good thing – eating fruit from a tree – into a sinful thing (disobeying God’s directives).
In other words, this was a twisting of good.
Most of us know what happened after Adam and Eve ate of the tree. God came into the garden, pronounced curses on Adam, Eve, and the serpent, and then fashioned clothing for Adam and Eve before sending them out of the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Eve took a good thing – eating fruit – and then twisted this good thing into a disobedience of God. It wasn’t the act of eating that condemned them; it was the act of going against God’s design.
How This Plays Out in Our Lives
You can think of sin as a deviation (or twisting away) from God’s design. God creates a good thing, but then the lies of Satan and of the fallen world come into play and twist our behavior into sin.
Have you ever heard a saying that goes something like, “The most dangerous lie is the one that is closest to truth?” Take a moment to ponder this statement. A good liar is skilled at infusing truth with falsehood, balancing the two in such a way that even those with good judgement might be fooled.
In the same way, some of the most dangerous sins are those which do not at first reckoning appear to be sin. Or, at the very least, they may “fly under the radar” so as to be paid little attention to.
For example, much is made today in the Christian community of the sin of lust. And rightly so – lust is a potent sin with the potential to wreck lives and destroy testimonies. We rightly identify lust as a sin that must be run away from. It must be fled from. Lust is a twisting of God’s design for sexuality, and it leads to ruin.
But what about the sin of idleness? Or the sin of self-righteousness? These sins are talked about occasionally, but not as frequently or severely as those of lust or outright hatred. They are certainly not as warned against as the more “grievous” sins.
Yet these sins too damage lives and damage testimonies.
Perhaps worst of all, they can – and do – damage our relationship with the Lord. Sin is still sin, and the consequence of all sin is brokenness. Think back to our earlier example of the fall of Adam and Eve. The simple sin of eating from a tree which God placed off-limits was enough to poison countless billions of human beings with sin. The sacrifice of Christ was necessary because Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
One sin would have prompted the need for Christ’s atonement. One sin – whether the sin of murder or that of telling a simple white lie – is enough to mark a person for God’s condemnation, and thus put him or her in need of the sacrifice of Jesus.
Sin swims about in all forms in this world, and we must be wary of all of it. From the most grievous and public sins to the most hidden and “light” sins, Christians are called to live crucified lives and to take up their crosses daily (Luke 9:23). Some of the most difficult to spot and difficult to deal with sins are those which are a simple twisting of a good thing.
Wrapping Up
Christians are called to walk in the light, as we read in 1 John 1:7. To walk in the light requires a holding fast to Jesus Christ, a clinging to Him and a fleeing from sin. It requires a rejection of counterfeit things and an embrace of God’s way of life.
Indeed, God has a design for all things. He has a design for our relationships, our words, our lifestyle, and the way we conduct ourselves. And the only way to truly live in His design is to lay down everything we are to follow Jesus.
Apart from submission to the Lord, we will embrace a twisted version of what God has declared good. If we do not walk with Him in fellowship, we will not follow Him with our lives.
Practically speaking, what does this look like?
Avoid Sin by Reading God’s Word
First and foremost, if we want to embrace God’s design (rather than chase the counterfeits of this world), we will need to read His Word regularly. The Scriptures provide the mind and counsel of God, and we must anchor ourselves there. In 1 John 4, we read, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1, ESV).”
This passage was written to a group of early Christians struggling with false teachers who preached a distorted Gospel. The Gospel they preached was a derivation, a falling short, of the true Gospel.
In the same way, sin is a distortion of God’s design. So how should we keep ourselves from it? We must test our hearts and our desires with the standards of Scripture. Only by focusing our lives through the lens of God’s Word can we expect to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
Avoid Sin by Being in Community
In addition to saturating ourselves in the words of Scripture, we ought to also surround ourselves with Godly community. Throughout the New Testament, God’s people are likened to sheep and spoken of as a “flock.” When one of the sheep wonders off, it is in great danger. Sheep outside the flock and removed from the protection of the shepherd are extremely vulnerable to attacks and accidents.
Similarly, Christians who aren’t participating in Godly community find themselves especially vulnerable to sin. This is especially true for those who aren’t only outside of community, but outside the care of a ‘shepherd.’
As Christians, we’re all under the care of Jesus, but God also places earthly ‘under shepherds’ – that is, pastors and elders – to care for us and disciple us. These people are placed in our lives to guide, teach, and oversee our spiritual development. They are there to instruct is in the way of God, to encourage us in doing good, and to bring it to our attention when we sin.
Living within the confines of Christ-loving community helps a person to walk ‘in the light’ and to avoid falling for the counterfeit goods of the world.
Avoid Sin by Being in Prayer
Finally, it is vitally important for a Christian to be in prayer. Prayer is our direct line to God.
I once heard someone say, “Nobody has a direct phone line to the Almighty.” That is simply not true. We can’t talk to God as we would to a person on the telephone, but we do have the ability to communicate directly with Him in prayer. Each and every one of us can intimately connect with the Lord right now, if we turn to Him in heartfelt prayer.
Martin Luther, the famous 16th century theologian who sparked the Protestant Reformation, is believed to have once said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day.” As you can see, prayer is of great importance in our fight against sin and our fight for God’s best.
While you probably don’t need to spend two hours each morning in prayer, you do need to be praying regularly. Scripture tells us to “Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).” Scripture tells us to make prayer the pattern of our life, not just the last resort when things are going south. Christians who spend much time in regular prayer are more joyful and more holy than those who don’t.
Avoid Sin by Focusing on What is Better
As I bring this to a close, I want to make one final observation: that it is worth it to pursue God’s design and to resist sin. As a sinner of 23 years, I understand that the world is tempting. There are things that you want to do that you know are wrong. There are moments spent sweating as you resist the temptation to do things.
When I was in college, I saw people often walking around with shirts on that said “Worth it.” While I don’t know exactly what the meaning of these shirts was, I think I can make a pretty good guess. When someone had this shirt on, he or she basically implied, “I’m a good time. I’m worth it. You may feel shame and dirtiness about what you did with me tomorrow morning, but I assure you… it’s all worth it.”
But guess what? It isn’t worth it. Sin is never worth it. Sin will take you further than you want to go and keep you for longer than you ever wanted to stay. Sin – a twisting of God’s design, a counterfeit of good things – can never satisfy you. It pulls you in and entices you, but it is empty, and ultimately leads only to ruin.
I say these things because – if you’re reading this – I care about you. And I can tell you that sin robs you. It promises pleasure and riches, but robs you and leaves you poorer and more desperate than you were before. It says, “Worth it,” but ultimately kicks you to the curb.
With that in mind, I would submit to you that the costly way of Christ ultimately yields far more joy than the cheap way of sin. Submitting to Christ and saying “no” to yourself is costly – make no mistake. It requires sacrifice. It involves pain. Dying to yourself and your desires is rarely fun, if ever. But just as sin looks great but ends in ruin, sacrificing your life for Christ looks like ruin but brings abundant life.
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus speaks about the “wide way of destruction” and the “narrow way leading to life.” To be sure, the road to destruction is easy. It’s wide, well-paved, and full of others living what they think to be their best life now. But the narrow way? It’s windy, rough, and thin. There aren’t as many travelers there. Yet in the end, that narrow way leads to life.
Today, I would simply like to end by saying this: yes, the narrow road – the road of self-denial and crucified living – is difficult. It’s painful. But in the end, it is the ultimate “Worth it.”
By choosing the goodness of God over the counterfeit goods of this world, you will be choosing a life of joy and riches in Christ. And in eternity, you will enjoy the fruits of your labors in a way that we cannot imagine so long as we dwell on this world.
God bless.